


The Power That Flows Through Her Veins (A Loki and The Aether Meta)

by SwirlsOfBlueJay



Category: Marvel, Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-26
Updated: 2016-03-26
Packaged: 2018-05-29 06:30:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6363238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SwirlsOfBlueJay/pseuds/SwirlsOfBlueJay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a meta analyzing the Thor, The Dark World end credits scene. This scene shows Sif and Volstagg giving The Aether to The Collector. Given that Loki is on the throne as Odin, it must have been Loki who ordered this. Has Loki truly given The Aether to The Collector and if so why?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Power That Flows Through Her Veins (A Loki and The Aether Meta)

_‘What I could do with the power that flows through her veins’_ – Loki, Thor The Dark World

 

In Thor, The Dark World, the scene after the credits shows Sif and Volstagg giving The Aether to The Collector. Given that Loki is on the throne as Odin, it must have been Loki who ordered this. Has Loki truly given The Aether to The Collector and if so why? Here are the possibilities I will discuss:

 

  * It’s a scene merely for the purpose of setting up Guardians of the Galaxy and doesn’t have significant relevance to canon beyond that
  * Loki had nothing to do with it and it was Sif and Volstagg acting of their own volition
  * Loki has given The Aether to The Collector
  * Loki has made everyone think The Aether has been given away using illusions



 

 

Is it merely a scene for the purpose of setting up Guardians of the Galaxy without significant relevance to canon beyond that: 

 

This is a possibility because Marvel end credit scenes usually have a connection to both the film they’re at the end of and also the next film in the verse. (This is done even when it might be difficult to find a connection, e.g. the one after Iron Man 2 had Coulson in it showing the landing site of Mjolnir for the proceeding film Thor.) It’s difficult to find a tangential connection between the vastly different worlds of Thor and Guardians of the Galaxy and as the infinity stones not only link the two but are also an important part of the overall storyline this scene may’ve been for that purpose alone. But this reason, the stones themselves, also makes the idea of this just being an irrelevant tie-in scene unlikely. Marvel often puts important things in little details and given that the storyline is converging towards these stones being the focal point of the entire verse, the whereabouts of each stone is very significant.

Therefore, assuming that the scene has some relevance to the wider canonical verse, next the actuality of what’s portrayed in the scene must be considered. There have been other end credit scenes that have fudged the ‘what actually happened’ part while still conveying an inherent truth of subject matter. For example the Thor end credit scene shows Eric Selvig being shown the tesseract for the first time and here Loki already has control over him. While in actuality the ‘Avengers Assemble’ film implies Loki wasn’t in control of him at this time, but the truths of Eric working on the tesseract and Loki eventually controlling him still come into play. So which truths can be taken from The Collector getting The Aether scene?

 

 

Were Sif and Volstagg acting of their own volition: 

 

As the scene shows Sif and Volstagg themselves actually handing over The Aether, this needs to be considered. It seems unlikely that they would steal The Aether from Asgard. But they’ve already shown in both of the Thor films that they are more than willing to disobey both Odin and Loki to follow or help Thor. So in what way could this possibly help Thor? Perhaps it’s a continuance of the idea that it’s too dangerous to have The Aether on Asgard but this doesn’t seem enough of a reason for them to take such action. Do they think Odin in his old age is no longer capable of making the necessary decisions for Asgard? This is surely a concern they would bring to Thor. Do they already suspect that Loki is masquerading as Odin? If this is the case it would make sense that they’d want to remove such a powerful object from his grasp. But there’s nothing that could’ve lead to this suspicion, other than the notion that Loki must have been tricking them at some point and that’s a lot of speculation.

The reason this is the most unfeasible is the choice of who The Aether is being given to. Why would Sif and Volstagg choose to give it to Taneleer Tivan (The Collector) of all people? He may have a respectable veneer but is highly shady. Maybe it’s the best they could do given that they were handling property stolen from Asgard. But still, he doesn’t seem like the type of character who’d be responsible with it and that would be a priority for them.

 

 

Reasons Loki may’ve given or pretended to give The Aether to The Collector

 

  * He did what Odin would do to allay suspicion
  * He knows it’s unwise to keep two infinity stones together
  * To dispel suspicion as he plans to collect the infinity stones
  * He made a deal with The Collector
  * He pretended to give it away so he could keep it himself instead of in the vault
  * He pretended to give it away so no one would know it’s on Asgard
  * As part of a master plan to take down Thanos



 

 

Has Loki given The Aether to The Collector: 

 

Loki understands magic and power better than most. It could be that he knows how dangerous and foolish it is to have two infinity stones on Asgard, capable of releasing all their destructive power. He would know it could be used against him just as easily as for him. This may’ve instigated the notion of giving The Aether away.

If this decision was made the next vital issue is who to give it to. It’s possible he’s done this as he thinks this is the last place people would expect Odin to place it. However Loki’s willingness to part with such a source of power would hinge on him believing he could get it back and also on knowing it wouldn’t be later used against him. He could believe this isn’t an issue as he has the tesseract. Also The Collector is the one person Loki can be sure won’t sell it (given how precious he holds his collecting) allowing Loki to know it will remain there.

If it’s part of his master plan regarding Thanos, there’s a possibility Thanos can sense the infinity stones and therefore Loki cannot have him knowing he’s in possession of two of them. This could also be true of anyone else being able to sense the stones. Though, with both stones, Loki probably holds enough power to mask this. There’s also the possibility that Thanos still holds some sort of sway/link/connection to Loki, making it harder for Loki to fight him. (In the end credit scene in Age of Ultron, Thanos is seen saying ‘Fine, I’ll get them myself’, in relation to coming to get the infinity stones. Given the stone in question in the film is the mind stone, this must be a reference to having failed to get this stone. There’s however no indication that anything here would’ve resulted in him getting the stone. But if the stone had been taken to Asgard by Thor, as it was going to be, it would’ve been given to Loki. Implying that Thanos is under the impression that Loki is still collecting stones for him.) In this situation a deal with Taneleer Tivan would ensure Loki remains in control while still being able to deceive Thanos about the stones in his possession.

However, the rest of the bullet pointed reasons would work for the idea of Loki pretending to give The Aether away just as well and given the choice between actually giving away such a powerful force and pretending to give it away, it seems far more likely that Loki would pretend to do so.

 

 

Has Loki used illusions to make everyone think The Aether has been given away: 

 

Loki knows he needs to be cautious, especially at the beginning, to ensure he isn’t caught. He needs to act similarly to the way Odin would act at least for a while. This is especially true when dealing with something as powerful as The Aether, acting differently with this would draw even more attention and suspicion. Given how it was so dangerous everyone was told it was destroyed, keeping its whereabouts hidden seems like a good idea and something probably both Odin and Loki would do.

Loki has made it clear that he knows how much power he could wield with The Aether in his comment to Thor. The question is; would Loki want this power with all the danger and risk that comes with it. The comment does suggest a desire to have it. Also given that Loki has taken the throne of Asgard it’s clear he wants power in one form, whether it’s for the sake of having power or for another end game is another matter. It’s likely Loki does want power for a reason, whether it’s just to keep himself out of the dungeon, or to show he can rule, or to take down Thanos, or some other reason entirely, being able to keep The Aether with him provides a vast reserve of power.

As there’s a possibility that Thanos is still somehow linked to him. Loki may want to hide where the stones are from Thanos and thus lead him to believe it’s with The Collector, also hiding that he’s collecting the stones as a power play. As well as hiding it from anyone else who may want the stone, thus ensuring himself and Asgard aren’t made into a target as no one knows they have The Aether. There’s an additional advantage of being able to keep it with himself instead of in the vault where it would usually reside and therefore give him instant access to the power and use of it without the knowledge of others.

For these reasons it seems the most likely explanation is that Loki has used illusions to make it look like The Aether has been given away whilst it remains in his possession.

 

 


End file.
